Guinness.

People seem to like it.

Most appreciate it in it's purest form, though there are some places 'round town that toy around with crafty Guinness concoctions.

Back in February, a handful of colleagues and I had the tremendous assignment of sampling some such medleys. For those of you with experience drinking in bars, I'm sure you'll understand the difficulty.

But anything in the name of job security (or at least that's what we tell ourselves).

We sampled drinks from Three Dollar Dewey's Black List (a list of Guinness + [fill in the blank] brews) for the "So...Why Guinness" story Karen Beaudoin wrote for Switch near St. Patrick's Day. And while we were a little thrown that no Guinness glasses seemed to exist in the joint, it was a jolly inspective endeavor.

I recall having little enthusiasm for the Champagne Velvet (ie, Guinness & champagne). The Guinness & Sea Dog Blueberry, however, wasn't too shabby.

When I described the beerscursion to a few friends afterward, one commented, "Why would someone willfully ruin a Guinness by adding champagne?"

A Midwestern pal (who fell hard for Sea Dog Blueberry when she came to visit two summers ago) remarked offendedly: "Who would ruin Sea Dog with a Guinness?!"

Guess it all ties back to that "opinion" thing I keep hearing about.

At any rate, those who love Guinness (sans additives, no matter how creative) can revel in Guinness ardor during a 250th anniversary spree at Ri Ra this evening.

The happy hour is hosted by fellow Blethenite Jenn Menendez and Jill Dube, both Official Guinness Ambassadors.

(No joke. A Guinness rep overheard the two all a-chatter about the dark beer and decided to bless them with official titles. I think the Ambassadorship ceremony included a sword, some chants and the wearing of a barrel-like dress.)

The Guinness Birthday Celebration is tonight from 5:30-8:30 at Ri Ra. [The details on Facebook]